Pakistan Daily Economy Update - 22 February

Transcription

1. Feb . 22, 2018 KCCI - eBulletin BoI to present business reform proposals next week A steering committee constituted to improve ease of doing business will present its recommendations to the PM by next week. Chairman Board of Investment (BoI) Naeem Zamindar, while addressing a conference, said that 62 initiatives to improve financial freedom in the country have been identified. There are more than 12 agencies, including excise and taxation, businesses need to deal with and BoI wants to build a centralised portal (website) to reduce procedural burdens. The objective is to improve Pakistan’s Ease of Doing Business ranking to 50 within three years. The News. MCB Bank, SBP hold conference MCB Bank organised a conference in collaboration with SBP titled ‘Avenues and opportunities of International Trade and its settlement in CNY’ with the aim to update key stakeholders on CNY (Chinese Yuan) trading and the support provided by SBP to facilitate CNY transactions in Pakistan. The conference discussed that customers should explore CNY denominated trade to determine the pricing advantage / disadvantage in either currency, and that it is quite likely that traders in China could give better pricing in CNY. SBP would provide support to banks in terms of liquidity and competitive pricing for products such as FCY loans, discounting of export bills and forward booking in CNY. For LCs denominated in CNY, clients could book import forward in CNY / PKR as laid out in the SBP Foreign Exchange Manual. Daily Times. PKR 1.2Bn proposed in budget: FBR to establish customs check posts along CPEC routes FBR will establish custom check posts on the entire CPEC routes for which a project worth PKR 1.2Bn has been proposed as part of PSDP in upcoming budget for FY19. This project incorporates purchase of land for 32 check posts on the CPEC route for checking containers at different points to ensure that NATO like scandal do not take place. BR. World Bank official speaks about external account The World Bank Country Director Patchamuthu Illangovan, while addressing a conference, has said that Pakistan's external account problems in last 12 months have resurfaced due to lack of political consensus, adding next ten years are crucial for Pakistan and political consensus is required to overcome these challenges. He said that Pakistan's population might go up to 400Mn by 2047. If the population growth remains same, then the GDP per capita would stand at the existing level but if population growth reduces to 1% and GDP growth touches 8%, then the per capita income could go up to $ 10,000 by 2047. BR. All oil-fired power plants to be shut down by 2019-20, says minister Water and Power State Minister Abid Sher Ali has said that all power plants being run on oil will be shut down by 2019-20 and coal-fired power plants at Port Qasim will start generating 1,320MWs of electricity by Mar.’18. The State Minister further said that record energy production had been achieved and 25,000MW of electricity would be available in the system during the summer season. Dawn. \ Perception issue: A Sweden-based fund is working on Pakistan’s image problem A Sweden-based asset manager is facilitating a visit of investors, looking to improve the image of Pakistan where it has invested close to $ 100Mn across different companies through the stock market. Jon Scheiber, chief executive officer and partner at Tundra Fonder, says the “good story” in Pakistan needs to be told. It is a small step forward to see the changes in Pakistan that the security situation is not as bad as the western media paints it to be, and that there are a lot of well-run companies here, he said. Tribune. Used cars’ import policy reversal perturbs auto parts makers Auto part makers have been disappointed by the govt’s decision to clear over 10,000 used cars from the Karachi Port under the old procedure prevailing before Oct. 6, 2017. They said that recent retraction on misuse of imported used cars policy would hurt the industry’s sentiments and give a negative message to new entrants. They lamented that one imported used car deprives the local vendor industry of PKR 300,000, and only last year, around 80,000 cars were imported causing a loss of around PKR 24Bn. Dawn. Textile exports grow 7% in seven months The export of textile and clothing products has witnessed over 7% growth to $ 7.7Bn during 7MFY18 as against $ 7.2Bn in 7MFY17 due to PM’s incentives package, payment of sales tax refunds and rupee depreciation against the dollar. This growth has enhanced overall country’s export to $ 13Bn from $ 11.7Bn last year. The main driver in textile exports’ was the value-added textile sector where exports of ready-made garments went up by 13.93%, knitwear exports increased by 13.27% and bed wear exports went up by 5.62%. Dawn. Provinces collect PKR 93.28Bn sales tax on services in first-half Provincial tax authorities have collected PKR 93.28Bn sales tax on services during 1HFY18 as compared to PKR 76Bn in 1HFY17, showing a growth of 23%, statistics released by the ministry of finance revealed. The growth can be attributed to expansion in services sector and efforts made by the provincial authorities to bring more people in the tax net. Punjab has posted 34% growth to reach PKR 47.16Bn while the Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) has posted 10.37% growth by recording services ST collection of PKR 38.18Bn. The News. Banks disburse PKR 500Bn agriculture loans in 7MFY18 With a 42% hefty growth, banks disbursed some PKR 500Bn on account of agricultural credit during 7MFY18 compared to PKR 351.36Bn in 7MFY17. The SBP has set all-time high target of PKR 1Tn of credit disbursement for FY18 compared to PKR 700Bn for FY17. With fresh disbursement, the outstanding portfolio (principal) of agri loan also increased to PKR 444.47Bn by the end of Jan.’18 compared to PKR 367.55Bn at the end of Jan.’17. BR. Economic Indicators List of Indicators Date / Period Unit Value Change Daily 21-Feb 110.40 111.65 0.00% 0.02% Crude (AP'18) 21-Feb 21-Feb 21-Feb 21-Feb PKR PKR Pts. $ Mn $/bbl 42,920 8.46 61.12 -0.87% NM** -0.75% Gold (MA'18) Gold (10g) Local 21-Feb 21-Feb $/oz PKR 1,323.8 48,300 -0.39% 0.00% Silver (MA'18) Cotton(KHI)-40 kg 21-Feb 21-Feb $/oz PKR 16.46 7,395 0.34% 0.00% Kibor-6M 21-Feb % 6.44 $ Bn 18.97 0.01% WoW -1.12% Remittances 9-Feb FY18 Jul-Jan 18 $ Bn 11.38 YoY 3.55% Exports* Imports* Jul-Jan 18 Jul-Jan 18 $ Bn $ Bn 12.97 34.51 11.11% 18.92% Jul-Jan 18 Trade Balance* $ Bn -21.55 Jul-Jan 18 Current Account $ Mn -9,156 Foreign Direct Inv. $ Bn 1.49 Jul-Jan 18 Jul-Dec 17 LSM Growth* % 5.55 % 3.85 Jul-Jan 18 Avg. CPI Discount Rate % 6.00 Jan-18 WoW= Sources: KCCI Research, PMEXweek , NCCPL, KSE, SBP, PBS* ** Not Meaningful on week; -24.18% -48.11% -2.94% USD-Interbank USD-Open MKT KSE-100 index FIPI Forex Reserves Major Currencies 165 GBP, 21-Feb-18, 154.4 155 145 135 EUR, 21-Feb-18, 136.3 125 115 105 95 Feb-17 USD, 21-Feb-18, 110.7 May-17 GBP USD EUR Aug-17 Nov-17 Source: KCCI Research ; Oanda.com Quote of the Day "The budget is not just a collection of numbers, but an expression of our values and aspirations." Jacob Lew Chart of the Day Pakistan's Balance of Payment Position (7MFY17 Vs. 7MFY18) 0.14 2.00 0.19 0.00 -2.00 -4.00 -6.00 -5.33 -6.18 -8.00 -5.95 -9.16 -10.00 Current Account Values in $ Bn Capital account 7MFY17 7MFY18 Financial account Source: KCCI Research, SBP Disclaimer This report has been prepared by KCCI Research & Development Cell. The information contained herein have been compiled or arrived at based upon information obtained from sources believed to be reliable and in good faith. Such information has not been independently verified. icon represents the sole viewpoint of the KCCI R&D Cell, and is stated to enrich the readers' understanding of the news item. The R&D Dept. bears no responsibility for its correctness or accuracy. Contact: res@kcci.com.pk